The James Bond Skillset

I sat down to watch the James Bond movies recently, specifically, the Daniel Craig instalments. And I loved them, just like most men do.

Partly, I think it’s because of a combination of great action and compelling storytelling – the movies are excellent at their core. But that’s not the primary reason that I love them so much. No, the primary reason is that I can’t help but feel inspired by the James Bond character.

He’s the definition of a badass after all – capable, charismatic, and in control at all times.

So naturally, after finishing them, I’m now feeling inspired to write some badass content. With that in mind, this will be the first article in a 3-part series to help you bring more Bond-like results into your life.

This one will be all about the James Bond skillset – what you need to learn to become highly capable like 007.

The second and third articles will cover what we can learn from Bond’s mindset as well as the important inverse: his character flaws. Stay tuned for those.

Now, without further adieu, let’s dive in.

Bond is in a difficult line of work. To have any degree of success in Hollywood’s over-the-top take on espionage, he requires mastery over a wide range of skills.

Some of them are clearly just for show – existing solely to build the persona of an almost perfect masculine figure.

But I’ll try to strip that away and focus on practicality throughout this article. We’ll look at how learning a similar skillset can translate into your own life and lead you toward results.

1. Combat Skills

You only need to watch one movie to understand that James Bond is evidently skilled in every form of combat imaginable. It doesn’t matter if it’s hand-to-hand, a shootout, a knife fight, or even a vehicle shootout – Bond is going to win.

So, let’s address the elephant in the room. This level of combat skill probably won’t be that useful to you. For those of us who live in western countries, violence is a rare occurrence. The likelihood that you’ll be in a knife fight and then a rocket-launcher shootout in the same week are practically zero.

Practicality has to prevail here. I don’t believe combat skills should be ignored entirely but put your time and effort into the things that provide benefits.

And to that end, martial arts are where it’s at. This is because, even if you don’t actually need to fight anyone, it can develop a range of other skills and traits that will benefit you in all other areas of your life.

In particular, the confidence, discipline, and mental grit could very well make all of your other pursuits feel easy by comparison. Knowing that you’re more prepared to defend yourself and the people you love in the unlikely event of violence is just a bonus.

2. Driving

With at least one or two high speed chases making it into every movie, Bond clearly has insane skill behind the wheel.

It even seems to extend beyond cars into pretty much every other vehicle you can imagine – trucks, planes, bikes, helicopters, and probably UFOs and hoverboards too.

But again, this leads us back to practicality. Learning to drive/fly all these different vehicles probably isn’t a productive use of your time.

However, it’s absolutely a good idea to work on your competence behind the wheel. There are professional driving courses on offer, but even if you don’t want to go that far, there’s plenty of things you can do to improve. Get used to driving in difficult conditions, practise reverse and parallel parking, and so on. Anyone who winds up in your passenger seat will respect you for it.

3. Communication & Language Skills

Long-time followers of my content will know just how much importance I place on communication skills.

While some of the other items on this list might only be useful in certain circumstances, communication skills are always useful. Wherever you go in life, you’ll stand to benefit massively from being able to communicate effectively with the people around you.

If you want to extend this a step further, you can follow in Bond’s footsteps and start learning a foreign language.

It may not be useful in your immediate environment, but it’ll improve your speaking skills drastically, even in your primary language. Not to mention how impressive it’ll be when the opportunity arises to start speaking fluently while you’re out and about with friends.

4. Situational Awareness, Understanding of Human Behaviour, & Observation

Something that Bond and other Hollywood super-spies (*cough Jason Bourne *cough) all seem to have in common is their unbelievable ability to assess situations and respond accordingly.

Bond is able to do this partly due to his training, which has taught him to keenly observe his environment and accurately assess threats. But he’s also able to do it because of his uncanny understanding of human behaviour.

He intuitively knows how people think and operate, something that he puts on display and even acknowledges himself in Casino Royale.

Fortunately, adding this skill to your repertoire will make you dangerous in all areas of life, not just the poker room.

5. Physical Fitness

I don’t think I need to do another spiel on why fitness is important, do I?

One of the most vital James Bond skills to learn is physical fitness, whether that means hitting the gym, or starting up a callisthenics routine.

It’s simple. If you want to be capable, start by making your body capable. Bond understood this as well as anyone.

6. Calmness Under Pressure

One of the most appealing aspects of the James Bond persona is his composure under pressure. He consistently manages to stay calm in all kinds of terrible and terrifying circumstances, from high stakes poker games, to shootouts, to even being tortured.

I wanted to finish the article on this point because I believe there to be an important truth here. We admire Bond so much for his composure under pressure, because it speaks to his immunity to the thing that holds each of us back the most in our own lives – fear.

We all have those little demons in our lives that we want to conquer but can’t quite bring ourselves to confront. This, I think, is why Bond is so admired and respected. Sure, he’s got the charisma, and the skills, and the fancy cars.

But we love him because he shows us possibilities. He provides an example for what we could be capable of if we were to conquer our most extreme limitations.

Fortunately, most of us will never have to worry about enduring torture. Our fears tend to be much less threatening, although admittedly more likely to occur.

But that’s okay. There’s a simple solution for building composure and courage in the face of your fears.

You need to regularly and consistently do things that are uncomfortable for you. Do them over and over and over again, ideally every day if possible.

Get used to sitting in that discomfort. Show yourself that you can endure and survive. Show yourself that there’s nothing to be anxious about after all.

It’s this experience that will break down the fear and anxiety, and ultimately, let you show up as your calmest self. And that’s the most badass part of the James Bond skillset.

The James Bond Skillset - How to Become Capable Like 007